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Chapter 12: Monsters

As the Dungeon Master, you have a vast array of such as modrons, are constructs shaped from the
resources available to you to make the game exciting raw material of the plane by the will of more powerful
and fun for the players—and monsters are at the top of creatures.
the list. A monster is defined as any creature that can be Dragons are large reptilian creatures of ancient origin
interacted with and potentially fought and killed. Even and tremendous power. True dragons, including the good
something as harmless as a frog or as benevolent as a metallic dragons and the evil chromatic dragons, are
unicorn is a monster by this definition. The term also highly intelligent and have innate magic. Also in this cat-
applies to humans, elves, dwarves, and other folk who egory are creatures distantly related to true dragons, but
might be friends or rivals to the player characters. less powerful, less intelligent, and less magical, such as
This chapter presents a wide selection of ready-to- wyverns and pseudodragons.
play monsters—a sample of what can be found in the Elementals are creatures native to the elemental
Monster Manual. Each description uses a standardized planes. Some creatures of this type are little more than
format that clearly explains the monster’s capabilities. animate masses of their respective elements, including
Guidelines for understanding the information found in a the creatures simply called elementals. Others have
monster’s statistics are given below. biological forms infused with elemental energy. The
races of genies, including djinn and efreet, form the most
Statistics important civilizations on the elemental planes. Other
elemental creatures include azers, invisible stalkers, and
A monster’s statistics, sometimes referred to as its stat
water weirds.
block, provide the essential information that you need to
Fey are magical creatures closely tied to the forces of
run the monster.
nature. They dwell in twilight groves and misty forests.
Size In some worlds, they are closely tied to the Feywild, also
called the Plane of Faerie. Some are also found in the
A monster can be Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Huge, or Outer Planes, particularly the planes of Arborea and the
Gargantuan. See chapter 9 of this document for more in- Beastlands. Fey include dryads, pixies, and satyrs.
formation on creature size and space. Fiends are creatures of wickedness that are native
Type to the Lower Planes. A few are the servants of deities,
but many more labor under the leadership of archdevils
A monster’s type speaks to its fundamental nature. Cer- and demon princes. Evil priests and mages sometimes
tain spells, magic items, class features, and other effects summon fiends to the material world to do their bidding.
in the game interact in special ways with creatures of a If an evil celestial is a rarity, a good fiend is almost in-
particular type. For example, an arrow of dragon slaying conceivable. Fiends include demons, devils, hell hounds,
deals extra damage not only to dragons but also other rakshasas, and yugoloths.
creatures of the dragon type, such as dragon turtles Giants tower over humans and their kind. They are
and wyverns. humanlike in shape, though some have multiple heads
The game includes the following monster types, which (ettins) or deformities (fomorians). The six varieties of
have no rules of their own. true giant are hill giants, stone giants, frost giants, fire
Aberrations are utterly alien beings. Many of them giants, cloud giants, and storm giants. Besides these,
have innate magical abilities drawn from the creature’s creatures such as ogres and trolls are giants.
alien mind rather than the mystical forces of the world. Humanoids are the main peoples of the D&D world,
The quintessential aberrations are aboleths, beholders, both civilized and savage, including humans and a tre-
mind flayers, and slaadi. mendous variety of other species. They have language
Beasts are nonhumanoid creatures that are a natural and culture, few if any innate magical abilities (though
part of the fantasy ecology. Some of them have magical most humanoids can learn spellcasting), and a bipedal
powers, but most are unintelligent and lack any society form. The most common humanoid races are the ones
or language. Beasts include all varieties of ordinary ani- most suitable as player characters: humans, dwarves,
mals, dinosaurs, and giant versions of animals. elves, and halflings. Almost as numerous but far more
Celestials are creatures native to the Upper Planes. savage and brutal, and almost uniformly evil, are the
Many of them are the servants of deities, employed as races of goblinoids (goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears),
messengers or agents in the mortal realm and through- orcs, gnolls, lizardfolk, and kobolds.
out the planes. Celestials are good by nature, so the Monstrosities are monsters in the strictest sense—
exceptional celestial who strays from a good alignment frightening creatures that are not ordinary, not truly
is a horrifying rarity. Celestials include angels, couatls, natural, and almost never benign. Some are the results of
and pegasi. magical experimentation gone awry (such as owlbears),
Constructs are made, not born. Some are programmed and others are the product of terrible curses (including
by their creators to follow a simple set of instructions, minotaurs and yuan-ti). They defy categorization, and in
while others are imbued with sentience and capable of some sense serve as a catch-all category for creatures
independent thought. Golems are the iconic constructs. that don’t fit into any other type.
Many creatures native to the outer plane of Mechanus,

Chapter 12: Monsters
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